Building a MERN-Based Field Management System – IIT BHU Hackathon Project

Kishan Singh — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:12:33 +0000

🚀 Building Occamy – A Scalable MERN-Based Field Operations Platform
📌 The Problem

In rural field operations, most tracking happens through:

WhatsApp messages

Phone calls

Manual registers

This leads to:

No structured data

No verification

No analytics

No audit trail

We built Occamy, a mobile-first field operations tracking system to digitize and structure this workflow.

🏗️ System Architecture

Occamy follows a standard MERN architecture:

Frontend: React (Mobile-first UI)
Backend: Node.js + Express
Database: MongoDB
Authentication: JWT
Deployment: Vercel (Frontend) + Render (Backend)

The backend was designed to be:

Scalable

Secure

Role-based

API-driven

Production deployable

🔐 Authentication & Authorization

One of the most critical backend components was implementing secure authentication.

Approach:

Used JWT for token-based authentication

Password hashing using bcrypt

Created authentication middleware

Implemented Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Protected routes ensure:

Only Admin can access analytics

Field officers can only access their own data

🗄️ Database Schema Design

MongoDB collections were designed carefully for scalability.

Key collections:

Users

Name

Role (Admin / Distributor)

Region

Hashed password

Meetings

User ID reference

Location coordinates

Photo URL

Timestamp

Sales

SKU details

Pack size

B2B / B2C type

Order history reference

Relationships were maintained using ObjectId references to ensure data consistency.

⚙️ REST API Design

The backend exposes structured REST APIs:

POST /login

POST /start-day

POST /meeting

POST /sales

GET /admin/analytics

GET /user/activity

Each route:

Validates request body

Uses middleware for token verification

Applies role restrictions

💥 Hardest Backend Challenge
Problem:

Ensuring secure and scalable role-based access while maintaining performance.

Solution:

Created layered middleware:

verifyToken

checkRole

Centralized authentication logic

Structured controllers for clean separation of concerns

This ensured:

Security

Maintainability

Scalability

📊 Analytics & Aggregation

Admin dashboard required:

Distance traveled aggregation

B2B vs B2C sales summary

Monthly meeting counts

We used MongoDB aggregation pipelines to generate efficient reports without excessive queries.

🚀 Deployment Challenges

During deployment:

Faced CORS issues

Environment variable misconfiguration

Token expiry mismatch

Solved by:

Proper CORS setup

Centralized config management

Using consistent production JWT secret

📱 Why Mobile-First Backend Matters

Since most users operate in rural areas with:

Low bandwidth

Low digital literacy

The backend had to:

Keep payload sizes minimal

Avoid unnecessary nested responses

Optimize response times

📚 Key Learnings

Designing scalable REST APIs

Secure authentication flow

MongoDB schema structuring

Production deployment debugging

Real-world system thinking

🔗 GitHub Repository

https://github.com/K-dotKishan/occamy-hackathon

DEV Community: Kishan Singh

Building a MERN-Based Field Management System – IIT BHU Hackathon Project